Virginia poised to approve plug-in balcony solar

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SOLAR

• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to become just the second state in the U.S. to allow plug-in balcony solar panels that can help residents to lower their electricity bills. (Canary Media)

• A mountainous Virginia county approves a solar ordinance with​strict regulations on decommissioning and an emphasis on protecting farmland and viewsheds. (Martinsville Bulletin)

• Ashtrom Renewable Energy secures financing for a 150 MW solar farm in Texas. (Power Technology)

BATTERIES

• Texas expanded its fleet of grid batteries by 69% to more than 14 GW last year, leaving it ranked second in the U.S. behind California for installed energy storage. (Canary Media)

WIND

• A rural Texas county home to the ​“Biggest Little Town in the World” is cleverly using a tax abatement clause in state code to funnel revenue from NextEra’s wind farms to fund senior support services. (Texas Observer/​Grist)

COAL

• Appalachian Power is torn between lawmakers in Virginia who want the utility to move away from fossil fuels and those in West Virginia who want it to run its coal-fired power plants at a higher capacity, leaving ratepayers with higher bills. (WVTF)

• West Virginia lawmakers ask more critical questions about a bill to codify a state policy requiring utilities to run coal-fired plants at a higher capacity amid questions over how it will affect bills. (WV Metro News)

• West Virginia lawmakers race to pass more tax breaks and loosen state regulations on the coal industry even as production continues to decline. (Mountain State Spotlight)

OIL & GAS

• Texas oil producers welcome rising prices from the war in Iran, but experts say the conflict will need to continue for months to entice the industry to invest in more infrastructure to increase production. (Houston Chronicle)

• Experts are skeptical of President Trump’s announcement of a $300 billion plan to build the first new oil refinery in the U.S. in 50 years, in part because of the financial risk. (Houston Chronicle)

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatens a state takeover of petrochemical hub Corpus Christi due to an escalating water crisis he says city leaders brought on themselves. (Houston Chronicle)

DATA CENTERS

• “We don’t want to be outside anymore”: The high-pitched whine from eight natural gas turbines that power a Virginia data center is pushing residents away, spotlighting a drawback in Trump’s plan to require data centers to build their own power sources. (Politico)

• Despite controlling both chambers of the Virginia legislature, Democrats are deadlocked on a state budget due to disagreement over a tax exemption for data centers. (Inside Climate News, Virginia Mercury)

• With Virginia lawmakers split on whether to drop a tax exemption for data centers, Gov. Abigail Spanberger suggests the idea of imposing a consumption tax instead. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

• Virginia lawmakers still haven’t resolved unanswered questions about bills to require data centers to locate in industrial zones and to reveal their water use to the public. (Cardinal News)

• The president of San Antonio, Texas’ municipal utility says it’s facing ​“over 50 projects that could quadruple our resource needs” as data centers and other large-load customers flock to the region. (Houston Chronicle)

GRID

• Dominion Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission, Evergy and American Electric Power collaborate on a plan to build a 115-mile, 765 kV ​“extra-high-voltage” transmission line in central Virginia. (Cardinal News, WRIC)

UTILITIES

• Critics sound the alarm about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s assertion of its unilateral power to decide whether to include public input on projects with major environmental impact. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Trump pushes the TVA board to adopt a $500,000 compensation ceiling that would apply to all of its employees and reduce CEO Don Moul’s pay by more than 90%. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• A new study finds fuel-cost sharing could have saved North Carolina ratepayers nearly $89 million between 2020 and 2024 with little effect on utilities’ bottom lines by pushing them to better manage future fuel costs. (WFAE)

NUCLEAR

• Experts speculate about whether technology at an East Tennessee national laboratory might be used to pack up and transport enriched uranium from Iran. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

OVERSIGHT

• A longtime Republican activist who’s been criticized for making disparaging online comments about Muslims and Jews has made it into a runoff election against an incumbent for a seat on the Texas board that oversees the oil and gas industry. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY

• A southern Virginia locality that’s been losing jobs for decades has seen recent economic announcements from battery maker Microporous, an Italian rocket maker, and a company with ties to data centers that together will create thousands of jobs, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Trump admin courts Westinghouse rivals amid slow talks on new nuclear — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Clean cement startup Sublime cuts jobs after Trump pulled funding — Maria Gallucci

• Illinois to data centers: Bring your own renewables and skip the line — Kari Lydersen

• Draft bill would let utilities own nuclear plants in Ohio — Kathiann M. Kowalski